Kentwood City Attorney Jeff Sluggett has some understanding of what Kentwood’s founding fathers — especially then-attorney Walter Freihofer — went through in facilitating Paris Township incorporation as a city. He faced similar challenges in helping Kentwood get a revised charter approved in the mid-1990s.
“It was initially defeated,” Sluggett said of the revised charter. “I had never gone through something like that. The charter commission did make some changes to the charter and it eventually was approved by the voters.”
The passion and commitment the residents and city leaders have for improving their city and maximizing city dollars is something that still impresses Sluggett, who has served as the Kentwood City attorney for more than 15 years.
“I like working in the public sector,” said Sluggett. “It is interesting to me, and often you are working with volunteers who have an energy and a passion to help make their home, their community, better.”
His firm, Bloom Sluggett, PC, located at 15 Ionia SW, is one of very few in the state specializing in public sector law. With a total of five attorneys, including former 61st District Judge Mike Christensen, the firm serves as general counsel to roughly 50 different municipalities which includes cities, villages, and townships and also does specialized work for about a dozen more.
“You have firms that have attorneys who focus on public sector law, but the entire firm is not dedicated to that,” said Cliff Bloom, Sluggett’s partner. Public sector law covers a broad spectrum of law from drafting ordinances to bankruptcies, Bloom said with Sluggett adding that it is focused on a very limited pool of clients, specifically municipalities.
Bloom, as well, has deep roots in public sector law. He worked alongside Freihofer, who was considered the dean of municipal attorneys.
“He was well loved,” Bloom said of Freihofer. “He would comment a lot on how much the area had changed. It has changed some from when I worked with Freihofer in the 1980s, but my impression is that it changed significantly during the 1960s and 70s, going from rural to suburb.”
While working with Freihofer, Bloom served as the prosecuting attorney for Kentwood in the mid-1980s and he also worked alongside Kentwood’s second city attorney, Robert Cooper. Several years later, Cooper would eventually work with Sluggett, with Sluggett becoming Kentwood’s third city attorney upon Cooper’s retirement in the early 2000s.
Sluggett said they have seen Kentwood grow and prosper through the years. “I think the reason for that is, first, Kentwood has had some very good people running it,” he said. “They have some of the best department heads we have worked with throughout the state.
“Second, they are willing to take risks and anticipate what is coming. It is very much a team approach. For a city that size — more than 50,000 — they are not afraid of moving forward.”
And with that leadership and passion, Sluggett said he believes Kentwood will continue down that path of growth and prosperity.
